#Basically Suki's Going Through It having never processed all the stuff she went through as Agent 3 until Just Now

[skyplayssplatoon3]

"Loyalty To The Captain"

Suki and Zeke's dynamic has slowly changed over the years

Previously, his only goal was to take her down as one of the greatest "threats" to Octarian kind

Now, he stands alongside her, ready to aid her in restoring peace, not only for the world, but the peace within herself

She may not speak much nowadays, but Zeke is one of the very few she opens up to anymore.

[melo-yello]

📚School Struggles📚 w/ 💥🪨KiriBaku💥🪨 HeadCanons

Pairings: KiriBaku X Black!Reader

Summary: College AU! Reader falls behind in course work, and won’t tell anybody. But Kirishima and Bakugou find out.

A/n: I’m an adult who went most of my life with undiagnosed learning disabilities so this would just be comforting to me. Lil angst! Lots of fluff. Implied ADHD and Dyslexia.

📕🖊 First tests are handed back in four of your eight classes.You’ve failed all but one which you barely passed. You are asked stay back as yet another professor suggests you find a tutor

📕🖊You’re lowkey offended. You’ve never needed a tutor before. Up until recently your performance in other areas compensated for your less than stellar academics. You were in gifted courses all your life. You would just hafta try harder

📕🖊 Kiri and Baku are saving a spot in line for you by the time you meet them at the cafe when you shove the thoughts of failure out of your brain and perk up to your usual self

📕🖊 Kiri’s face lights up as soon as he spots you. “Over here, Babe!” He beams flagging you down. Like it was hard to make out the giant red head in a crowd. Especially with the large lean, continuously pissed blonde scowling at everyone right by his side.

📕🖊 “Hey,Dumbass.” Baku smiles slightly and pulls a hand from his pocket to offer you a hug and a kiss on the temple

📕🖊 Kiri pulls you by your waist into his torso kissing your forehead “What took you so long?” He asks letting you free from the vice grip he had on your curvy hips

📕🖊 “I got a lil turned around again.” You lie pulling Bakugou’s free hand into yours then lean into his shoulder. There’s something very comforting about how warm he is all the time. You wanted to snuggle into his back but PDA really isn’t his thing and you are already pushing it

📕🖊 “It’s a big campus, Teddy, you just have to get used to it. You just transferred. Me and Eiji can take turns walking you from class to class until you get the hang of it, you know?” Baku says trying to read your eyes. He could just feel something is off. Your box braids and the angle itself saves you from any further scrutiny.

📕🖊“You guys, gotta be pretty sprung to do that for me, ya know.” You quip smirking up at him then over to Kiri. “Fuck you too, Teddy Bear.” Baku huffs smirking *maybe he was wrong, unlikely* “Yea basically, Pebs. Liking who you date is super manly.” Kirishima laughs grabbing his tray.

📕🖊 You three finally sit in a small wrap around booth. Bakugou taking the middle spot today. You do your best to not zone out and hyper fixate on your test scores by making sure to laugh at Kiri’s jokes and nod along with Baku’s venting

📕🖊 You slide your fork in and out of your picked over food as you strategize how to fix your current problem without alerting your boyfriends. Before you knew it your table is quiet with two crimson gazes fixed on you

📕🖊 “You’re quiet today, L/n.” Bakugou says fixing you with a deeply fierce gaze which was his way of looking concerned. Sharpness of your actual name drew you from your thoughts in a instant. “Hmmm I think Kats has a point, L/n Y/n.” Kirishima says in between slurps of his smoothie. His red eyes practically dripping with curious concern

📕🖊 You make a quick split decision between the truth and charm. “Wow, my government. I must be in real big trouble.” You pout trying to flirt your way out of a more serious conversation. You poke out your plush bottom at Kiri while slipping a hand onto Baku’s inner thigh and gently squeezing before hitting him with the same seductive pout

📕🖊 Big Mistake!😳 Bakugou’s vermillion eyes widen before becoming instantly stern as he grips your wrist tight enough to hurt. “The fuck are you doing?!! I was being serious, Y/n! And in public?!! You’re fucking priceless!” The ash blonde hisses with angry pink cheeks. Guilt washes over you when you snatch your wrist back. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to...talk about it.” You mumble. “Then use your fucking words!” 😤 Bakugou kisses his teeth and stands so Kiri lets him out. “He’s just a little embarrassed, Pebble. I needa talk him down. You can find your next class right?” He sighs watching Baku storm out

📕🖊 “Yea. I’m sorry. Tell him, Kiri. Please.” You squeak sheepishly grabbing your stuff. “He knows but I will. He’s mad about other stuff.” He nods following after Bakugou

📕🖊 It’s intimidating to compete with their history at times. You couldn’t bring yourself to just dump all your issues on them

📕🖊 You’ve only been dating since summer and Kiri and Baku have been dating since their senior year in high school year. You guys are starting your junior year and are still learning each other.

📕🖊 You get lost a couple times before finding the right building. The noise in your head going nearly at light speed to wrap all the problems you’re having. The professor passes the test you’d spent majority of last night and early morning studying for. You felt confident until it was in your hands.

📕🖊 You chew the pen top trying to finish up the last 7 short answer questions when then alarm for 5 minutes left is given. You panic not even having started the true false section on the last page. You scribble down answers just as time up is announced across the classroom

📕🖊 Defeat washes over while you shuffle out the door. You reach in your pocket to dig out the card for Student Accomidation Services your World Civ professor gave you. Maybe this was something simple as a “processing problem” as she had explained when you visited her during office hours

📕🖊 A throat clearing pulls you from your thoughts. You jump stuffing both hands into your jeans card and all. Bakugou stood unreadable propped up on a wall only a few steps away from you. “Eiji, thinks we need to talk about the cafe. Plus he doesn’t get out of lab til 3:45, so you’re kinda stuck with me.” Bakugou mumbles offering his palm as an olive branch.

📕🖊 “He’s probably right. I don’t mind just you, Tuff Guy. I really am sorry though, Katsuki.” You sigh interlocking your fingers with his. “I know, Teddy. I wasn’t really mad about that anyways.” Baku concedes as you two stroll down the hall. “I didn’t hurt your wrist earlier, did I?” Baku asks softly opening the door and meeting your eyes with gentle concern. “Nah, You didn’t, King Explosion Murder.” You laugh giving his hand a firm squeeze before kissing it

📕🖊 The walk to your dorm is quiet and peaceful. He lets you settle your school bag before speaking again “I just feel like you’re still trying to hide parts of yourself from us, especially me,” He says looking into your eyes now, “Like you’ve been pulling back. Eijirou thinks I’m looking too deep, but I doubt it. I know I can be a little rough and mean sometimes...well a lot of the times. I’m not easy to get along with. But you know you can talk to us when you’re upset or if something bothering you... if I’m bothering you. I don’t like you feeling like you have to pretend to be ok if you’re not.” Baku finishes crossing his arms tightly across your chest.

📕🖊 You dig your nails into your palms mercilessly. You open your mouth to reply and reassure him but the words won’t come. Baku notices what you’re doing to your hands and steps closer to take them into his. He rubs slow circles into the backs of them. Hot tears pool at the corners of your eyes as you try to find your voice. “Kats, I’m...I didn’t me...I...Of course you’re not what’s bothering me.” you croak out just as tears roll down your face and Baku pulls you to his chest.

📕🖊 Your breathing hitches and you just let yourself be disappointed, confused, frustrated, and upset about the last month and a half of struggling and wondering why you couldn’t tell anybody and why no one was even noticing. But He did. Baku had noticed. He rocks gently as you tremble in his arms rubbing firm circles in your lower back.

📕🖊 You two stay like that for what seems forever. Once your breathing evens out Baku’s hold relaxes. He kisses both your temples.You reluctantly let go , so you can pull wrinkled failing test pages from your backpack. “Please don’t laugh at me, Suki.” You peep placing the cause of your meltdown in his hands not attempting to have your puffy eyes met his red ones. Lifting your chin so you’re looking him in the eyes. “Come on, Teddy Bear. I wouldn’t dare.” He nods with the most serious face

📕🖊 Bakugou is quiet for a while as he leafs through the exam papers. “Why didn’t finish any of them?” He asks “Time. I’m a slow reader.” You mutter back. “I’ve seen you doing homework for two of these courses and passing those, what’s happening?” Baku says staring in disbelief at the scores at the top of each exam.

📕🖊 You swallow the lingering fear of judgement. You place a hand at your temple to remind yourself of Baku’s earlier tenderness. “I get anxious. It gets so much harder to read when I’m that worked up, and I can barely focus once I start forgetting answers...I know it’s just a test. I guess...That sounds dumb, doesn’t it?” You sigh shrug off your own explanation.

📕🖊 “Nope. Not dumb at all. Sounds like test anxiety to me. I struggled with that in high school . I didn’t know you were a slow reader, Teddy.” Baku says pulling your hand before you can dig your nails into it. “Yea. One of my professors thinks I have dyslexia and ADHD...but I’m not stupid sooo.” You hum rocking on your heels “That is not what either of those words mean, and I know you know that, L/n.” Bakugou growls he absolutely hates when you or Kirishima talk down on yourselves. “Yea but it feels like it though.” You sigh biting your lips

📕🖊 Before Baku can say a word, Kiri swings the door open. “Babes! Have you two hotties missed me?” The red head shouts coming through the door way smiling until he sees your puffy eyes and tense posture. “Bakugou Katsuki, I know you fucking didn’t?!!” Kiri questions suspiciously leaning down to rest his chin on your shoulder and wrapping a protective hold around your waist.

📕🖊 “The Absolute fuc-” Baku’s defensive rant is cut short as you kiss the hand holding yours to quiet him as you answer Kiri “No Eiji, he didn’t. I’m flunking like half my classes.” You huff meeting his eyes with quivering lips trying your best not to cry all over again

📕🖊 Kiri is stunted into complete silence. The only thing he can think to say is an apology to his boyfriend for jumping to conclusions. Last time he checked your GPA’s a lot more impressive that his. “How the fuck is that even possible? You transferred into the honor courses.” Kiri says completely baffled moving to where he could see your face.

📕🖊 You explain to your boyfriends all the things that have been tripping you up and confusing you. You detail how hard studying has been as far as staying focused and actually understanding lengthy test questions

📕🖊 Kiri has a million questions at first but stops half way through after Baku grabs your overnight bag and leads you out the door. “You’re gonna freak her out all over again, Shitty Hair, if you keep going at her like that.” He could tell you were getting overwhelmed, and might cry again “My bad, Pebs.” Kiri says kissing your cheek as he follows behind

📕🖊 Once you get back to their apartment and Baku askes for your help making dinner. He has you read the directions and ingredients to him. You stumble through most of it, but that doesn’t stop him from praising you as soon as you finish. He has since learned you and Kiri do best when told how well you’re doing vs his typical shouting method

📕🖊 The three of you set an assessment time with the Student Disability Services on campus that doesn’t conflict with the Boys’ schedules, because they insisted that they’d both be there to support their baby and wouldn’t take your bullshit excuses for an actual reason to miss it

📕🖊 Kiri helps you make flash cards for your next test. If he remembers nothing else from Baku’s tutoring sessions the importance of repetition is drilled into him...among other things. Each time you ask him how that went he’ll just shudder. “It was the most intensely terrifying experience of my high school career, and we fought villains pretty regularly.” Kiri deadpans before grinning like the Cheshire Cat and covering his head. “You’re full of fucking shit, Shark Week! I’m the best tutor you assholes could hope for.” Baku yells pushing Kiri’s face into his pages of notes.

📕🖊 The night before your disability assessment you find yourself tossing and turning at like 4:45 in the morning. Kiri repositions pinning you in place so you face Baku’s back. You trace soft shapes into him just before he flips meeting your eyes. “Lil early isn’t it, Babygirl?” He whispers brushing away a few stray box braids covering your face. You don’t bother answering and instead offer him your palm and he takes it without hesitation interlocking your fingers with his. “Nervous?” He hums when he feels the steady trembling of your hand.

📕🖊 “Katsuki, what if there’s nothing wrong with me? What if it’s just me? What if I’m just...” you trail off not sure if you want him to hear how much this subject shakes your confidence. Bakugou moves close enough for your foreheads to touch. “If you’re just not smart? Not even possible. Whatever it is me and Kiri will help you go beyond. I know this is scary, but every first usually is.” Bakugou smiles softly

📕🖊 “Bbbbbuuut maybe I’m just du-” You attempt to argue until a sharp nip on the side of your neck where Kiri was peacefully nuzzled quiets you. “Nope. Not a chance. Pebble, don’t talk shit about my girlfriend again.” He mumbles in a gravelly half sleep voice. He settles again and snakes an arm around hips as he tugs Baku into you with the other. You open mouth your more to defend yourself but KatSuki just bops your nose as he closes his eyes, “You heard, the sexy ass red mountain. You’re fucking smart. Go back to sleep, Kay?”

📕🖊 “Kay.” You sigh digging your face into the crook of Baku’s neck. You lay there out argued but feeling overwhelming loved, so you chose to let them win the debate. The boys hardly agree on most things so they were totally probably right about this one anyways.

📕🖊 You are on a very very short list of people who Bakugou Katsuki repeats himself for. Like boy lets you “huh?” the fuck out of him. He will often cup your face or hold your hands if he needs tell you something important b/c he understands you’re a tactical learner

📕🖊 Best believe that all your future successes in classes big and small will be celebrated you getting taken out for icecream and if it’s a graded paper they’ll put on the fridge like you’re in grade school. You find it a little embarrassing but it really makes you feel like you’re making progress

📕🖊 Kiri brings your favorite snacks for study sessions so he can reward you for right answers and staying on task. You call it “childish” at first until he shrugs “Oh my bad we can try something els-” about to put them away. “Noooooo no those are my favorites.” You nearly jump over the table. Kiri has a shit eating grin the rest of the study session

📕🖊 When giving directions from the passenger seat both Kiri and Baku typically do a good job of remembering you need them to point left and right

📕🖊 If you’ve had long day in tutoring and homework and you guys are watching anime Bakugou will read the subs to you. Sometimes if he’s in a particularly good mood he might even imitate a voice or two

📕🖊 Kiri would politely let you ramble about one of your niche interests and will help you get back to your point when you get lost in a tangent

📕🖊 Don’t let these two hear you call yourself “dumb” or “stupid” Kiri will just act like he can’t comprehend what you’re saying like deadass “Pebs, speak English please. Nope not catching that, Babygirl. Did you say you were a smarticle particle? An intelligent ass motherfucker?! Oh, of course you are!” While Baku is more like “Sorry what was that? I thought I heard a very accomplished and creative thinking ass bitch say something? A incredibly capable ass bitch say something?A smart ass bitch say something?” Your only response is yes and then you get a forehead kiss

[atlabeth]

transferred part 20 - atla smau

part 19 | masterlist | epilogue

summary: trying to run from your past is hard, but falling for your brother’s roommate is even harder. little do you know that he’s falling for you as well.

a/n: me when i have to write more than 5 words in a series thats supposed to be a smau

anywho! basically the last chapter?? which is crazy?? filled with heartfelt emotions and the moment that you've all been waiting for, it's a wild ride. so strap in and enjoy. the epilogue will be posted later today so i can finally wrap this series up!! and dont worry theres a super long sappy authors note on the epilogue. LETS GET INTO IT

wc: 2.3k

warning(s): cursing, mentions of alcohol, hurt/comfort, one suggestive comment, mentions of toxic relationships, reader talking about her self sabotaging behavior and burnout, Bad Coping Methods (dont disappear kids)

-

“You haven’t seen her?” Zuko sighed as the same words he had heard on repeat for the past hour played through his ears again. “It’s alright, thank you. Have a good night.”

He shook his head at his friends, their defeated expressions mirroring his own as he leaned against the kitchen island. He ran an exhausted hand through his hair, and he couldn’t help but think of the countless times you had done it for him.

“Your sister doesn’t play when it comes to theatrics,” Aang lamented as he plopped on the couch next to Sokka.

“Tell me about it,” he muttered. “I mean, she doesn’t pull stuff like this. Sometimes she went over the top when she was younger, staying out a little too late or doing something stupid, but she never just… she never just tried to disappear like this. I.. I guess she was too worried about Katara and me to do anything like that, but still.” He knocked back the rest of the seltzer and tossed the can on the table — alcohol was tempting, but none of them wanted to be any less than completely aware tonight.

“We all knew she was hurting,” Sokka continued. “Not even she could be fine after everything that happened with Hahn, especially the day after, but I— I guess I thought that she would open up before just dropping off the radar completely!

“No news from the girls,” Aang announced, prompting a collective sigh from the other two boys. “I gotta give it to her, she’s been very thorough with this.”

“Of course she has. It’s classic Y/N — she can disappear without a trace, sure, but she can’t put enough effort into picking up some supplies for my project on her way home.” It was a lame attempt to lighten the mood, and though he got a weak chuckle out of Aang, it was radio silence on Zuko’s part.

“Hey, buddy.” It didn’t snap him out of his reverie, and Sokka seriously contemplated throwing his empty soda can at him. “You okay?”

“She didn’t even say anything to me,” he finally murmured, eyes trained on his phone screen. “She said she would tell me if she was having a hard time, but she didn’t say anything to me. Just suffered in silence until it got so bad she just up and left. She just… left. Without a single word to anyone. To me.”

Aang’s eyes softened and he let out a loose exhale. “Zuko, she didn’t mean to hurt you — I know that much. She’s just been under a lot of stress lately, and… I guess it didn’t manifest in the best way.”

“Stress...” he muttered, trying to piece it together. There was something nagging at the back of his skull, something on the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn’t get it. “And you guys are sure she hasn’t put anything anywhere? No texts that you missed, nothing?”

“Believe me,” Sokka said. “I’ve refreshed her pages a thousand times by now. It’s radio silence on her side. God, I wish I was more invasive and put like, a tracking device on her car or something! For all we know, she could be back to Kyoshi.”

Kyoshi. Stress. This whole thing, your disappearing act.

And suddenly, it clicked.

Zuko stood up abruptly, nearly knocking over the stool in the process and warranting puzzled looks from both of his friends as he grabbed his keys off the table and practically ran to the door.

“Zuko, where are you going?” Aang questioned.

He tugged the door open and shot a glance back at them, tension having noticeably dissolved from his shoulders.

“I know where she is.”

-

Zuko tapped idly against the steering wheel, once again glancing down at his phone screen but to no avail. His relationship with you had become infinitely more complicated since the kiss through fault of both of them — he supposed that was what happened when two people who didn’t know how to talk about their emotions caught feelings for each other. Zuko was very skilled at sticking his foot in his mouth whenever he tried to talk about anything like this, and

But you had accepted his offer to talk on the way home, so that meant something.

He had originally suggested just talking on the way home like he had proposed earlier, but you had a different idea. ‘Trust me,’ you had told him. ‘It has a good track record with making people feel better.’

Your proposition was a wildflower field on the outskirts of the city, just out of the way that someone would go en route to the university. Far enough from the city to emanate an aura of peace, but close enough to be a feasible trip.

“I found this place when I was missing home,” you smiled as he parked the car. “I love it here, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I just feel homesick for Kyoshi. You passed a field like this on the way into town, and when I stumbled here, it just kinda felt like fate. So now whenever I’m stressed, or overwhelmed, or just need a break, I come out here. And I think this is the perfect place to talk about… well, whatever’s going on with us.”

“Sounds good.” He returned the sentiment then cleared his throat. “As long as we don’t go in there. I can admire it from afar, but just looking at that field is making my skin itch.”

You laughed and nodded amiably. “Deal.”

-

One hand was splayed against your chest, the other trailing lazy circles with the pads of your fingers against the metal as you gazed up at the sky. You had the best and only seat of the view, the flora drifting softly in the night breeze as the stars twinkled from above.

You didn’t know what you were thinking, being here. The past couple of weeks had just been… crushing you. It was like your heart was stuck in a vice and no matter what you did, it just got tighter and tighter.

You had been treating everyone you knew horribly, but you couldn’t stop. It felt like a game — how terribly could you act towards them until they snapped too? Until your friends, your siblings, Zuko, recognized that they had made a mistake by trying to help you?

And you didn’t know what it was about today, but… something inside of you just broke after that morning with your roommates. So you did what you were best at, and you ran. Skipped class, skipped work, just drove around aimlessly until even that was starting to feel like too much of a trap.

And then you ended up here.

It would’ve been laughable if you weren’t on the verge of breaking down.

You had been here, just laying on the hood of your car parked a few feet away from the field on an off road path, for the better part of an hour. If you were going to drown underneath the weight of your thoughts, it was better to do it alone.

But as you heard the crunching of gravel underneath car tires, your eyes instinctively shot towards the noise — so much for being alone — and you sat up. Your brows furrowed in recognition, you knew that car, and it felt like your heart was going to beat out of your chest when Zuko stepped out.

“You remembered,” you breathed after a moment of silence. “You’re here.”

“Always.” He said it so obviously, so easily — why wouldn’t he remember? Why wouldn’t he be here?

You scooted over to make space on the hood and patted the space next to you softly, pulling your knees up to your chest in a moment of shame as he walked around to the front and pushed himself up next to you. What were you going to say to him? What could you say?

“I’m sorry,” you said out of the blue, your words pouring out of you like an emotional waterfall. “I’m sorry for just— for just leaving, I know it was stupid and I know they’re all probably worried out of their minds, but I couldn’t do it, Zuko. I-it was like I was trapped, and I know it was irrational, but I had to get out of there—”

“You didn’t have to,” he said quietly, effectively stopping your rant. “If you really had to get out, you could’ve at least said something to one of us. I don’t know what things were like back at Kyoshi, but here— here, you can’t throw yourself back onto the knife every time something goes wrong, because— you just can’t do that anymore.”

“I’m not mad, believe me, I’m relieved that you’re okay. I just..” he sighed and glanced up at the night sky, the light of the moon illuminating his features as he faced you once more. “I know you’ve felt alone before, but you’re not. You have Katara, and Sokka, Suki, Toph— you have me, Y/N! And I’m not going anywhere, trust me, but— but you can’t keep doing this to yourself, because they care about you, and I care about you.”

You swallowed the lump in your throat and chose to concentrate on the hood of the car, tapping your fingers against the metal as a way to use up your nervous energy. “You’re… you’re right,” you said after a long moment of silence, the beginnings of a mirthless smile on your lips.

“After that night at the party, I just— I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened. There was a part of me that just wanted to lock myself in my room and never come out, but I— I told myself I was better than that, and I refused to let myself fall back onto any of it. So I worked. I took extra shifts, I helped out my professors, I did anything and everything I could to try and keep my mind off of Hahn. But I wasn’t helping anything, I was just… I was destroying myself. It was just like you said. I was a candle burning at both ends but still convinced that I was doing the right thing, and eventually.. I just couldn’t take it anymore. So I ran.”

“And— there’s always been this… this voice in my head that pops up after things in my life are going good, and it tells me that something is going to go wrong. A-and it tells me that if I’m the one that ruins it, then I don’t have to ask myself what I did wrong, if I could’ve stopped it from happening— if it’s inevitable, then I should be the one to ruin it. It’s how most of my relationships ended, and— well, the only thing it’s succeeded in is making me miserable.”

You don’t even notice your hands are shaking until you feel Zuko placing his own over yours — a simple gesture asking an unsaid question, one you answer by intertwining his fingers with your own.

“That same voice popped up again once I started getting close to you,” you admitted quietly. “And this whole time, I’ve been so terrified of falling that I never considered you would catch me. But I’m tired, Zuko. I’m tired of constantly looking over the edge.”

As you turned your head to meet his eyes again, your breath caught in your throat at his close proximity. You were sure that no matter how much time you spent with him, your heart would never stop beating out of your chest for Zuko.

“I will always be there to catch you,” he affirmed softly. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

And just like before, he brought his hand to the side of your face and tenderly brushed a loose strand of hair behind your ear. His hand, slightly calloused but emanating comfort all the same, lingered on your cheek for a moment before he posed the question.

“Can I kiss you?”

You nodded, and his lips captured your own immediately. You reciprocated with an almost desperate fervor and— and it just felt so right. You had grown so accustomed to the constant warmth he carried with him that it had become a part of you, he had become a part of you, and now a life without Zuko was just unimaginable.

He was right — he already was there to catch you, each and every time. Giving you endless rides when your car broke down, sitting through the world’s most boring anthro projects, letting you bare your soul to him, telling you it was all going to be okay when nothing felt okay, and managing to find you when you had gone out of your way to not be found. And all of it— it all made you realize.

You didn’t want to keep running. And you didn’t have to. Not anymore.

Zuko pulled away and pressed his forehead to yours, breathing slightly labored as the two of you sat in comfortable silence. That is, until you broke it.

“So,” you started, a nervous chuckle following. “Are we… are we a thing now?”

You could tell that caught him by surprise by the laugh that escaped him, a sound of unfiltered joy. “I’d say that we are.”

You could feel the heat rushing to your cheeks once more as he slid off of the hood of the car and held out his hand, an offering you took happily. “We should get home,” he said, somewhat reluctantly. “It’s past midnight, and—” Zuko glanced at his phone and grimaced. “They’re all still worried out of their minds.”

“Right,” you muttered. “I’m gonna get the lecture of my life from Sokka and Katara.”

“Probably,” he chuckled. “But they’re just doing their job as concerned siblings.” He pressed a chaste kiss to your forehead and glanced back at his own car. “I’ll see you back at the apartment?”

You nodded, an uncontrollable smile pulling at your lips. “Thank you, Zuko. For this, and— for everything.”

He returned the sentiment, golden eyes filled with adoration.

“Always.”

-

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[spaceswordwasaimingforozai]

Whumptober Day 23 - Exhaustion/Sleep Deprivation

Ao3

Zuko’s not sure of the time, but his inner flame is enough to know the sun went down a long time ago and is moving closer to rising every minute, even though the first rays of light have yet to creep over the horizon and light his dark office yet. He sighs and lifts his hand to his face to rub across his eyes. What he does know is that he’s not even halfway through the new pile of documents that landed on his desk yesterday evening that need urgently addressing. A new trade deal is in the process of being struck and of course it requires so many approvals and changes and reviewing of old laws and seeing what needs to be repealed. He’s been working constantly since they arrived, and even though he’s had two years of being Fire Lord to get used to these kind of sudden problems he still feels overwhelmed every time another this size crops up.

Zuko shuffles the papers as he puts aside another signed and sealed document. He badly wants a cup of tea, and almost convinces himself to get one, but that urge is overpowered by the knowledge that if he does he will likely fall asleep and so he doesn’t risk it. Instead, he refreshes his ink brush and hunches back over his desk, pushing off the creeping tiredness swearing to himself that he’s dealt with worse. 

Sokka emerges from his rooms early, he has to if he has any hope of practicing with his swords before it feels too hot to do anything but walk slowly around the palace or sit in meeting rooms. He is constantly grateful that even though Zuko and the other fire benders on the council have their whole ‘rise with the sun’ thing they never impose that on the actual meeting times. The hallways are still mostly empty at this time, but he still encounters a few servants on the early round or at the end of the graveyard shift and greets them, pausing to talk with those who look awake enough.

He reaches the hallway where Zuko’s room is located and stops before he walks past the door. He had heard that the Fire Lord (‘Fire Lord, Sokka will never really get used to calling his friend that), Zuko had had a lot of work yesterday to sort around the newest trade deal so maybe he would appreciate the offer to do some sparring, let off some steam and do something other than paperwork and worrying about paperwork. Sokka’s only been in the palace as ambassador for a couple months but he’s already seen how committed Zuko is to making his nation better and repairing the damage they caused. He nods to the guards in front of Zuko’s door, not the Kyoshi warriors this time but ordinary fire nation ones. He knocks gently but loud enough to either wake Zuko if he’s not already awake or at least get his attention through the gigantic doors. 

“Hey your majesty! Rise and shine, I was thinking you might want a break from being a royal clerk for an hour and come do some sparring. Promise I’ll let you win...maybe...probably not. C’mon!” Sokka waits for a response and gets none then knocks again, louder this time. 

Still nothing. Sokka shoots a glance at the stern guards either side that he knows he’s still working to win over so he shouldn’t try to aggravate them, but Zuko’s like his best friend besides Aang (and Sokka will stand by the fact that he is more of Aang’s best friend than Zuko is, despite the Avatar always ducking out of that by saying Katara is his best friend). He pushes the door open finding it unlocked and shouts into the room. 

“Hey wake up lazy jerkbender, where’s that whole ‘inner flame, I rise with the sun’ mumbo jumbo? He says, doing a bad impression of Zuko as he does. He hears muffled snort from one of the guards and smirks that he might be doing better at the warming up than he thought. 

A quick look into the room reveals that not only is the bed empty, but it doesn’t look slept in, more so than the usual ‘quickly tidied by the palace staff once Zuko leaves for the day’ that it usually has. Sokka moves back out of the room and turns to the guard he thinks he remembers the name of. 

“Ming,” Sokka starts, getting the woman’s attention, “where’s Fire Lord Zuko?”

Ming turns her head enough to address him while trying to maintain an air of officiousness, but Sokka can see her expression is softer than he had noticed passing by. 

“I believe he’s in his office, Ambassador Sokka.”

Sokka sighs dramatically. “Then why didn’t you tell me that before I went banging on his door?”

Ming allows a small smile but it's the guard behind him that answers without turning his head. “Wanted to see what you’d do. Plus it’s not our job to stop you from banging on the door of an empty room.”

Sokka turns and laughs sarcastically. “Okay then well I’ll let you guys get back to guarding the Fire Lord’s bedsheets.” He backs away trying to keep eye contact with both of them, then turns on his heel and walks back down the corridor the way he came. He at least feels like the guards are starting to warm up to him a bit more if they’re making fun of him.

Sokka knows where Zuko’s office is, probably. He’s only been there a couple of times, but he knows at least it's not too far away from Zuko’s bedroom and it looks out on the turtleduck pond, so he’s got that to go on, as well as the vague memory of its location. 

He crows with victory when he turns a corner and spots the equally ornate doors at the end of the hall with a pair of Kyoshi warriors outside that he’s ninety-five percent sure is Zuko’s office.

He walks quickly to the end of the hallway, aiming to open the doors with a flourish and berate his friend for already being a boring old Fire Lord at the age of nineteen when a strong hand on his chest stops him and he realises one of the guards on the door is Suki. He smiles in recognition at his friend/ex girlfriend. 

“Oh hey Sooks! Didn’t recognise you-”

She rolls her eyes and cuts him off with another little nudge to his sternum. 

“It’s fine, Sokka, that wasn’t why I stopped you though.”

“Oh?” 

Suki darts her eyes back to the door and steps away a little, shooting a glance to the other warrior who nods and returns to her full focus to her job while they move a way back up the passage.

“Go easy on him today, okay Sokka? He practically hasn’t left that room for the last two days.”

Sokka frowns. “Wait what? Why? Is there something important going on I should know about?”

Suki sighs, crossing her arms as she drops back against the wall next to them. Even as she gives the appearance of casual, Sokka knows she’s still primed for any attack or anything unexpected and gives himself a moment for a little swell of pride for her skill and is again grateful that its her and her warriors in charge of looking after the best Fire Lord for a century. 

“You know the recent trade negotiations?” Sokka nods, “It’s just all the documents for that. He has a lot of things to sign off and check before the deal can be finalised.”

Sokka glances back to the closed doors, then back to Suki. “But that’s just a trade deal? It’s like the fifth in the last couple years, and not on the scale of the earlier ones. Surely he doesn’t have to be working round the sun to do everything?”

Suki smiles, but it has a sad tint. “Tell that to Zuko. He wants everything to be right, and be the very best Fire Lord. I’ve told him he’s already done that, but he won’t listen. I forgot that you haven’t seen this before, it’s what he does basically every time all the paper in Caldera basically gets dumped on his desk to sign off on, but honestly he’s been doing it more with the little stuff now a lot of the big stuff has been sorted. We tend to just wait till he falls asleep on the desk then move his sleepy ass back to his room to get a bit of rest, but we can’t talk him out of the office until then. He won’t talk much about it, but I think it's because he’s scared of messing up, missing something, I dunno. Baby Fire Lord guilt and everything.” Suki smirks at him and he laughs, but then returns his focus to everything she’s said and sighs.

“I feel like I should have expected that from him.” Suki nods but says nothing more. As they stand in silence, Sokka feels a plan forming. He glances at Suki who won’t show it, but knows she was watching him out of her peripherals a moment ago. 

“I presume part of you telling me this is basically ‘Sokka, your turn to have a go at dealing with the sleep deprived Fire Lord”? 

Suki’s smirk is almost disguised by her face paint. She shrugs. “Maybe, everyone else has had a go, and I mean, you’re here now,” she turns to face him more, pushing off the wall, “I honestly wouldn’t have come to get you if you hadn’t come by. We’re used to him being like this, but it’s also tough to watch. Maybe you will have better luck getting him to look after himself before we have to physically make him.”

Sokka smiles at her and pulls her into a brief hug. “I’ll do my best,” he says into the side of her hairpiece. 

They walk back to the doors together, Suki retaking her place beside the doors, going back into full Kyoshi warrior mode.  

Sokka changes from his previously planned approach, deciding to knock instead, as if Zuko’s been working for as long as she said he doesn’t want to startle an exhausted fire bender in a room full of paper. 

He knocks loudly and decisively, “Zuko? You in there, buddy?” 

He wonders for a moment of silence if Zuko’s already fallen asleep, but then a weary voice comes through the doors. “Come in, Sokka.”

Sokka pushes through the heavy doors and is greeted by everything he expected but kind of worse. There’s papers covering every square inch of Zuko’s large ornate desk, and in the middle of all the clutter, with the early morning sun peeking through the windows behind him, illuminating his silhouette. He would look almost ethereal in beauty was it not for the haggard expression surrounded by a few loose tendrils of hair falling from the precarious looking topknot, made worse by Zuko’s ever present scar, but it seems to be worse, redder around the edges like it’s been scratched at. 

Sokka quietly closes the doors as Zuko doesn’t look up more than a second from his current document. 

“What do you need, Sokka?” It’s said not unkindly, but with an edge that Sokka struggles to distinguish beyond just plain exhaustion.

“Don’t need anything stifu hotman, just stopping by.”

Zuko hums noncommittally. “Then would it be alright if I saw you later maybe? Not to be rude, I’m just very busy right now.”

Sokka nods as he moves to the side of the desk, gently moving one stack of papers out the way to sit down on the edge. “Yeah, Suki told me. She also said you hadn’t got some sleep for a while. What’s up with that man?”

“Like I said Sokka, I’m busy,” Zuko says, sweeping his brush across the page in front of him with some semblance of his signature. 

Sokka decides to approach things from a different angle. 

“You know I stopped by your room this morning. Went to see if you felt like a sparring session before the sun got to its usual stupid hot level.”

Zuko hums again.

“I was disappointed to not find you there. So!” Sokka says, rising from the desk with a small flourish. “I came to bother you in all your fancy firelord business. See what you were doing instead of sleeping like a normal person tends to do at night.” Sokka moves around, leaning down with his face almost level with Zuko’s to get a look at the page in front of him that Sokka has noted he hasn’t moved on from for a few minutes more than it should have taken him to read it.

“I got up early is all, needed to get a few things done,” Zuko says, trying to wave off Sokka.

This time it’s Sokka’s turn to hum at Zuko’s usually unconvincing lying. 

Sokka only leans over further, almost getting a mouthful of dark hair as he starts asking questions about the documents that he already knows until Zuko leans back to face Sokka. 

When he does, Sokka can see how tired his friend looks and he recognises again the weight on Zuko’s shoulders. “What do you want, Sokka? I told you, I need to get this done.” Zuko breaks off with a yawn that he stifles behind his hand. Sokka smiles, torn between the sadness at seeing how stressed and worn down Zuko clearly is, and how sweet he also looks, a thought which Sokka pushes back to focus on the former.

He plucks the brush out of Zuko’s unresisting fingers and lays it down in the ink tray.

The Fire Nation isn’t going to start the war up again if you take a nap, oh great  Fire Lord.” Zuko opens his mouth to protest, probably with something about how Sokka’s being overdramatic, but Sokka jumps in first. “Zuko, seriously. You need to rest. You’re no help to anyone if you can’t think clearly, and you never know what you could do as a sleep deprived ruler! Order all the citizens to do the dragon dance, release all the komodo-rhinos into the streets for them to have a party, declare a public holiday for turtleducks! Actually, that one sounds kind of good, forget that one.” He can tell Zuko’s trying to stay looking mad, but he’s not doing nearly as well to hide the small smile at Sokka’s antics as he thinks. “What I’m saying is you need to get some sleep, or a spa day, or something. You can’t keep working like this. Please Zuko, for me?” Sokka adds as Zuko looks like he’s about to argue again. Sokka leans down further, tilts his head and does his best polar bear-puppy eyes to try to persuade him. If reason won’t work, maybe guilt will, that’s what Aang usually does to Sokka. 

Zuko closes his eyes against Sokka’s efforts, but when he does he yawns again and hunches in on himself. He sighs and Sokka knows he’s done it. He has to stifle his victorious grin as Zuko looks back up at him. 

“Fine.” He says defeated, but with enough annoyance that he’s ensuring Sokka knows this was his choice, however coerced. 

Before he can change his mind, Sokka swoops down and pulls Zuko out of his chair with one arm around his back to support him. “C’mon your royal jerkbender-ness, nap time.”

Zuko grumbles something under his breath about ‘interfering water tribe’ but Sokka pretends not to hear him. He won, and now Zuko’s gonna go not work himself to death, so Sokka doesn’t care what mr grumpy firebender has to say about it. 

Zuko puts up a small amount of protest at being half lifted by Sokka, but quickly gives up when it becomes obvious that it will take more energy than he has to extract himself from his hold. 

Zuko doesn’t register much after they leave his office, he thinks he spots Sokka giving a subtle thumbs up to Suki, but can’t be bothered to think any more about it. He knows they probably conspired against him, but with the way his body is feeling heavier and heavier with every moment since he was removed from his seat at the desk he feels like maybe they had the right idea. And even he cannot ignore the small feeling of warmth in his chest from his friends’ care.

They shuffle through the doors of his room and Zuko expects to be unceremoniously dropped on his bed, but instead Sokka lowers him gently, removing the stiff outer robe and his hairpiece but doing no more than that, and pulling the covers around Zuko. He sighs as he feels the welcome softness of the bed envelop him and smiles. 

“Thank you, Sokka,” Zuko tries to speak loud enough to be heard, but he’s not sure if he manages it before he feels sleep pulling him under. The last sensation Zuko registers, not fully sure if he’s dreaming, is the feeling of a hand sweeping his hair away from his face and pausing there. 

[seyaryminamoto]

Hello seyary, hope you're doing good. I wanted to ask, have you ever read or played the DC injustice AU? If not, definitely recommend, but if you have what do you think of an ATLA AU with such a premise? What charecters would be on who's side, etc?

I haven’t played or read it, sorry about that, you have great suggestions and I often am very ignorant on the topics xD

But anyways, I’ve looked it up on Wikipedia and from what I understand, this would be a universe in DC where things went very, very wrong. Right?

The only part about it that I don’t know how to incorporate to Avatar is the alternate-universe matter. That sort of thing doesn’t really happen in the Avatarverse, so I guess it’d feel weird adding it in a serious story (whereas in DC comics there’s so many alternate universes that it fits just fine). I know some people do it, but it’d feel out of place to me. I’d rather keep it in a single universe.

But alas, let’s forget about that briefly while I try to lay down the situation:

First off, we’re told the Joker destroys Metropolis and kills Lois Lane and Superman’s unborn child. In our case, Superman would obviously be Aang, and I guess our casualties would be Katara and Bumi. Oops ._. 

Metropolis should be Republic City, especially since it’s Aang’s special place and all that. So I guess someone with a spirit vine-powered robot causes an ecological disaster or something in Republic City, turning it into a ghost city, and this somehow kills Katara and unborn Bumi in the process :’D

… Okay, okay, I’m kidding. I need to stop mocking LOK so much.

Alright, so, who would suit the role of the psycho terrorist? I’m beyond resistant to say Azula, I know a lot of people have the tendency to link her to Joker but I don’t really like that interpretation. I don’t see what she’d gain from destroying Republic City, and as I’ve talked in many recent asks and posts, she doesn’t do things unless she has something to gain from it. She’s not into gratuitous violence. Aang is not a personal enemy for her, not as much as her brother is, so I doubt Azula would be behind something like this.

But I guess the Republic City #1 Public Enemy is Yakone, huh? So I guess it could be him. Forget the spiritual stuff, I really just said that to throw shade at LOK, but Yakone could indeed set up a plan where he destroys most the city, maybe because Toph’s after him and he’s sick and tired of being bothered. Makes a grand and terrifying display of bravado or so, tries to drive Aang mad so that Toph has to deal with him instead, and this way he can go about his illicit business without a hitch, probably in another city that hasn’t been damaged.

So… this might be strange, but Toph kind of becomes the Batman of the story? She’d probably be the one trying the hardest to put a stop to Aang, surely recruits the help of the rest of the Gaang, BUT…

… If you kill Katara, Sokka will see red. That’s for certain. He’s not going to be very coherent after that, regardless of how he stayed rational after his mother’s death. His younger sister should have been safe, and he would never forgive Aang, and even himself, for the fate that befell his little sister.

So strangely, I see Aang and Sokka becoming antagonists to other characters who will try to put a stop to them. Sokka is bound to be out to kill Yakone first of all, probably out to kill Aang too after that if his raging grief runs that deep. Aang wants to deliver justice, I imagine, to Yakone and to everyone who might dare be like Yakone, and his new concept of justice after losing the love of his life so horribly would be… well… it would make Kyoshi’s look cute, is all I’ll say.

So, Zuko would surely side with Toph, Suki might as well (tries to get through to Sokka but fails). Azula in this setting might start as a single agent, slightly amused by how Aang is becoming a raging tyrant and by how his best friends are his dissenters. She’s partly enjoying the fun, but I imagine that once Aang tries to unify the world under his rule she would resist him too. If the Fire Nation wasn’t allowed to do that, what makes this psycho Avatar think he has any right to rule everyone?

Basically… it’s everyone vs. Aang the way I see it xD everyone vs. Sokka too because he won’t join Aang but won’t join the rest of the group either. He’d be too miserable and depressed to know what to do with his life. This is probably one of the most straightforward ways to turn Sokka “dark”, actually. Odd that I’d never thought of it…

Anyhow, this is the way I see it without the Alternate Universes complication. I figure things would end with everyone fighting Aang, probably locking him up the way Tyrant Superman was, and Sokka either dies (*sobs*) or has the same fate. Chances are that some people from Toph’s team would die too, because Aang’s not likely to pull his punches, so a few casualties from all sides…

Basically, I see this idea as a very messed up and sad tragedy :( then again, the premise is so awful already that it’s hard for it to end in any other way. But alas, it would be interesting to see Aang losing his mind this way. I’ve heard of “Avatar goes corrupt” AUs, but this is the first time I see a solid way to make that happen. And it’s a very solid way to drive Sokka mad with grief, too. Interesting suggestion, my friend!